


Strings

by DramaticGarbage



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Human AU, Lamp - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Soulmate AU, eating mention, nervous thoughts, string of fate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 21:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16900518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaticGarbage/pseuds/DramaticGarbage
Summary: Roman is tired of not being with his soulmates, and finally is going to set up and follow his strings to find them.





	Strings

It was the first day of summer vacation. Well.. Could you call it summer vacation anymore? He had just graduated high school. This was just.. Summer now. This was just.. Life now. He had so much he had to figure out.

—

Virgil once again found himself in his room, curled up in his bed and hugging his knees. Everything was too much again. Everything was too loud, too bright, too  _much_. He was starting to shake, he needed to calm down. His eyes slipped shut and he tried to even his breathing, he tried to focus on slowing his heart rate, he tried to find anything to distract him.

He felt some tugging on his hand and instantly a small smile began to spread across his face despite how he was feeling. His eyes opened once again, looking down at his left hand. The left hand was where the string of fate resided. Everyone had a soulmate, connected to them by a string of fate that was wrapped around both their fingers that only they could see. Well, almost everyone. Virgil had heard that some people didn’t have soulmates.. And that some people had more than one. Virgil himself, well, he had three.

He obviously didn’t know much of anything about them, but he did get feelings about them from time to time. The red string wrapped around his ring finger seemed… Strong. Somehow. The dark blue one around his pointer finger was sturdy. Or… Reliable might be a better word. And the light blue one around his thumb was… Softer in some way. Virgil wasn’t really sure what it was exactly. But he just… He was sure.

Even right now, as he felt himself shaking slightly, looking down and feeling the strings on his hand made him feel better. The red one was being pulled from the other end. Red tended to do that when Virgil was feeling down, almost like they were trying to say ‘I’m here, you aren’t alone.’ The navy string had been pulled taut and it was being tapped on rhythmically. A steady metronome that Virgil could focus on. He had to figure that Navy realized he had some kind of a panic disorder… When Virgil began to shake, the calming rhythm always followed closely behind. And he couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, watching and feeling as the sky blue string wiggled playfully. Sky seemed happy, some how. And it was as if they sensed Virgil’s panic and sadness, and they were trying to share some of their happiness with him.

Virgil knew next to nothing about them.. But at the same time, he knew more than he needed to be sure beyond any level of doubt that they were all perfect and supportive… They’d been there for him since he was small and his anxiety had first manifested. He couldn’t wait until the day he would meet them.

Patton had stopped outside his work, taking a moment to softly wiggle the purple string that was wrapped around his middle finger. He could feel it trembling, almost nervously, right as he was walking up for his shift at the coffee shop. Patton worried about Purple, it seemed like they were nervous a lot of the time. He just hoped that the little shakes he sent down their string conveyed the smiles that he always intended. If he could do anything, bring just a little happiness or reassurance to his soulmate, that would be all he wanted. He also sent little tugs down to Blue and Red, making sure they were paying attention. The trembles that came from Purple were always subtle.. He hoped all three of them were being there for them.

Logan had been looking over all of his scholarship information, the eraser end of his pencil pressed to his chin as he contemplated his options. He knew it was only the first day of summer, and that he had plenty of time to make his decision, but why not get a jump start on his decision making progress? He had been accepted into every university he had applied to, but making the correct choice was going to take thought. He was pulled from his consideration at the trembling of his purple soulmate string… Followed immediately by tugs from Blue. Logan grasped the end of the purple string, giving it a tug to pull it more tight, then using his other hand to firmly tap upon it, using a pattern he had looked up online. He had an inkling that Purple had some sort of nervous disorder, and the research he had done on the phenomena had led him to believe that a constant, grounding, metronome may be helpful. He took a welcomed break, ensuring that he would keep up his steady taps until Purple had calmed, finding that much more important than what he had been working on.

Roman felt the twinges from his purple string, as well as the hurried tugging from the sky blue one. He immediately tugged back on purple, wanting them to know he felt them. No matter what was going on, Roman was there for them. He appreciated that Sky seemed to care so much, the tugging always happening right after Purple’s shaking began. But Roman was getting tired of this. Tired of not being able to really be there for them. To not work together with Sky to help Purple.. To not hold all three of them and reassure them he’d always protect them. Well, today he was finally going to get working on changing that.

He had been working every weekend, every summer, saving up as much as he could so that when he finished high school he could finally make it his mission to find his soulmates. Now that he was finally done, it was finally summer… He was going to get in his car and follow the strings until he found them all. If they could come with him to the find the others, perfect. If not, well he’d meet them and know them and he could work to get them all together eventually. But it was finally time.   
  
Roman loaded up his car, looking down at his hand. Navy and Purple’s strings stretched out west, while Sky’s went straight down south. And seeing as Roman lived up near Boston in Massachusetts, he decided Sky would be the first one on his quest. His bag was in the trunk, the convertible roof was down, and his ruby red Camaro had a full tank of gas. It was time to go.

Roman drove, doing his very best to follow the string leading him off toward the first of his soulmates. He had driven all day long, only stopping for food and gas, and making it as far as southern Georgia before he had to stop and find a hotel to sleep. He was sure Florida had to be the goal at this point to find his Sky. He pushed aside the small voice in his head that realized it was possible that his four soulmates didn’t reside in the continental US, and if that were the case, this trip would become much more complicated. But for now, he laid in his hotel bed, sure that he’d find his first soulmate in the morning.

Both Logan and Virgil had noticed over the course of the day that Red seemed to be on the move. While Virgil knew all of his soulmates were out east, and Logan could see he had Purple in the west in contrast to the other two, it was always apparent that Red was more northern than any of them. But over the course of the day it was undeniable that they seemed to be heading south. They both hoped that meant they were headed to find their other soulmate… That they were about to be one step closer to uniting.

Of course Patton had no idea, to him nothing had really changed, just another day of waking up bright and early to get to his shift at the coffee shop. He had no idea that his Red had gotten up at about the same time he gotten to work.. No idea that the last few hours of driving would have him parked outside his place of work, leaning on his Camaro right when Patton stepped out the front door of the shop. Patton was looking down at his phone, not seeing that the red string attached to his ring finger shifted to a shade of sky blue right in the middle and attached to the other teen’s thumb.

Roman’s eyes lit up as he saw him, an adorable barista with wavy strawberry blonde locks. Roman could only bear to watch him for a moment before he stood up straight from where he leaned against his car.

“Ey! Can I ask you something?” He called, a slightly cheeky smile on his face.

Patton looked up, at first just giving his normal friendly smile to the attractive boy. It only took a moment to register, that moment being the one he watched him brush his left hand through his chocolate brown hair, that he realized he held the other end of one of his strings. Patton’s smile instantly stretched from ear to ear and he nearly dropped his phone as he instantly ran the last few yards toward him, Roman immediately stepping forward and opening his arms.

Patton flowed right into his embrace, Roman wrapping his arms around him and hugging him close. They stayed there several long moments, hugging close and tight, not moving until Patton pulled back to look up at him, his green eyes slightly wet behind his glasses. Roman softly moved his hand to wipe a happy tear off his first soulmate’s freckled cheek.

“…You found me.” Patton managed after several moments, so lost in Roman’s warm brown eyes he had almost forgotten to speak.

“Of course I did, love. I came as soon as I could. I’m Roman.” He smiled, looking down at him lovingly.

“I’m Patton. I.. I’m just so glad you’re here.” Patton smiled, pressing himself back into Roman’s embrace.

“Me too, Patton.” Roman chuckled, hugging him again.

They ended up sitting down for lunch, Roman explaining how this had been his plan for years and asking if Patton would be able to join him. It took a long conversation with his parents and a phone call to work, but it only was only about a day or so before the two of them were loading up into the Camaro and setting off once more. They couldn’t tell if Navy or Purple would be closer, so the plan was just to drive straight and see if they managed to make it to Purple before Navy’s string veered upward.

Both Logan and Virgil had seen Sky and Red’s strings becoming closer and closer together until they were pointing in the exact same direction and they could feel them vibrating at the same frequency. It seemed they were indeed going to all meet sooner rather than later.

It ended up being Navy that was going to be next, as Patton and Roman drove it became apparent that while Purple was even further west, Navy was more north. They made a sharp turn as soon as the string went straight again and followed it up and up. It went more quickly this time, with them able to take shifts sleeping and driving, making it all the way to Colorado before they decided to grab a hotel room to rest before they continued on to meet their next soulmate.

Despite having just spent the better part of twenty-four hours in a car together, chatting non-stop about absolutely everything, as soon as the two of them had gotten into a hotel room together they immediately plopped down next to each other on one of the beds to continue talking. Their knees were touching softly as they excitedly and animatedly chatted into the night. They laughed, they got to know each other, they theorized on their remaining soulmates, they slowly found themselves inching closer and closer together…

It had gotten fairly late into the night, the two of them having eventually laid back sideways across the bed that they had been sitting on and talking. They slowly ended up nearer and nearer before Roman finally reached to slowly move his arm under Patton’s head, Patton using the larger teen’s bicep as a pillow and curling slightly into his side. They both smiled to each other, blushing lightly, but carried on and continued to talk. They fell asleep at some point, Patton giggling about Roman’s unfamiliar Boston accent and how he pronounced certain words, Roman feeling his heart swell at how Patton’s eyes lit up when he talked about things he loved.

A blushy morning, one that began with finding themselves wrapped in each other’s embrace, went by fairly quickly as they packed back up into the Camaro and continued on their journey. They made it to Denver before they realized they were getting close, getting off the freeway and starting to drive down smaller streets before they found themselves infront of a library. They both looked at each other as they parked, having learned enough about one another to know that they were going to have an equally hard time being quiet in their excitement.

Logan had noticed the night before that suddenly his string was pointing relatively straight, realizing that Red and Sky must have been heading toward him, but now that it was no longer changing direction he couldn’t gauge how quickly they were approaching. He felt a fair amount of anticipation, which normally wasn’t really how he operated. Calming his nerves to the best of his ability, he had gone to bed and awoken to find they hadn’t made it yet. All he could do was continue on his normal routine, waiting their arrival to the best of his ability.

Virgil was watching as Red and Sky seemed to be getting closer and closer to Navy. It made sense, seeing as they were all East and he was as West as you could get in the lower 48. He felt himself getting more and more nervous, knowing that them finding Navy meant they were coming for him next. He tried not to tremble and alert them, knowing they were happily all coming together.. This was good. He was excited, not nervous. Right?

Patton and Roman walked into the library, following their Navy string and stopping dead in their tracks when they found him. A lean, tall boy with sharp features, Roman would swear those cheekbones could cut glass, sitting at a four person table and reading a thick novel. The two excitable boys did their best to keep from shouting and running toward him, instead walking up as calmly as they could and plopping down across from him at his table.

“Hello there… Mind if we join you?” Patton asked, giggling.

Logan looked up, Patton gazing deeply into his icy blue eyes and Roman looking back over him with a strong smile. A soft smile grew over Logan’s normally steeled expression as he gazed over them both, taking them in and memorizing their features. They looked so different… But somehow perfect. Somehow exactly like how he felt they should.

“…Of course. I’m Logan.” He finally said, placing his book down.

“It’s amazing to meet you, Logan!” Patton spoke, his voice hushed but wavering with excitement. “I’m Patton.”

“And I’m Roman.” He smiled, looking over the both of them.

The three of them spent some time in the library before Logan decided that this probably wasn’t the best place for his first two soulmates, instantly realizing they both had a lot of energy. He was also rather excited, and he could admit to himself that he did have occasional volume control issues. So the three of them left, heading to a nearby diner that Logan had recommended so they could eat and talk. Logan was also free to join them to go find Purple, wanting to be able to have all four of them come together. They spent a fair amount of time in the diner, Roman and Patton both quickly learning how smart their soulmate was, completely in awe of his intellect. And while Roman had found a kindred spirit for his energy in Patton, it became aparent that he and Logan were very alike when it came to their level of passion. They hadn’t been united long before they found themselves in a friendly debate, Patton giggling slightly as he watched their back and forth.

Their debate was eventually completely interrupted by Patton’s giggles, only getting louder and more adorable as they continued on, distracting them enough that they couldn’t help but look over their smaller soulmate with fond smiles, too distracted to continue.

That evening they took off once again, headed out west and determined to find their Purple. Virgil had realized fairly immediately that Sky and Red had made it to Navy. Once all the strings pulled off in the same direction, it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. That meant he was next. They were going to find him… What if they didn’t like him? What if they were tired of him and his shaking? What if…

The three of them were driving along, chatting happily as they went down the freeway, when they felt their purple strings shaking. Each of them immediately began on their usual tactics to help Purple feel better. Luckily Roman could just wrap the string around his hand and tug it, not having to take his hands off the wheel. The three of them looked around at each other momentarily, all smiling to see that they each had their own way of being there for the soulmate they had yet to meet.

Virgil felt all of them immediately reassuring him, calming him slightly. Just feeling them there made him feel better. They were his soulmates. They were going to like him.. Right? They.. They just had to.

With the three of them all together, they just headed straight off to Purple, not stopping to rest. They only had to trade off once as they drove through the night, arriving in a suburb in Southern California late the next morning. Parking the Camaro on the street, they decided to get out of the car and wait on the side walk, the three of them giving soft tugs on their purple string to alert their final soulmate they had arrived.

Virgil had woken up rather early and decided that he should actually get up and get ready. He was sure today he’d meet them. He could just feel it. He rolled out of bed, actually showered, and got dressed in something he thought was him. That was what was important right? Be himself… He needed to be himself.

He still tried on about 5 things before ending up in his black ripped skinny jeans and a dark purple shirt under his signature hoodie. His purple fringe was laying just how he wanted it, and his dark makeup was applied just so. All that was left to do was wait. And he didn’t have to wait long before he felt the strings all being gently tugged on. He took a deep breath to steel himself before getting up and walking to the front door, pushing it open and walking out into the light. There before him were three teens he’d never seen before, standing on the sidewalk out in front of his house.

Virgil looked across them, seeing them all smiling back at him, and he didn’t even have to follow his strings to know who was who. Sky was on the right, the softest and most adorable boy he’d ever seen. The wind blew past and fluttered his pastel skirt, his barrettes barely keeping his soft waves from blowing into his bespectacled face. He had a smile that Virgil could tell could melt even the coldest of hearts.

In the middle was Red, undoubtedly. He was gorgeous, and that was putting it lightly. Even under his red bomber jacket, Virgil could tell he had more muscles in more places than he, himself, had places. He had that classic attractiveness to him, the boy everyone either wanted to have or wanted to be. And there he stood, looking over Virgil like he was the prize he’d been searching for all this time.

And last but not least by a long shot, Navy was on left, a tall, sharp teen that had a coolness to him that was nearly betrayed by his tie and glasses. But he stood, shoulders back, gazing over Virgil like he wanted to understand him. Like he was the missing piece of the puzzle he had been trying to solve.

The three of them watched as their Purple stepped out of the home and walked toward them. Their hearts fluttered as they watched him… There was just an air about him that there was more to him than met the eye. That to truly know him was to somehow unlock to puzzle that was him. He had a mysterious air to him… An aloofness of sorts.

Of course that didn’t stop Patton from suddenly rushing forward to wrap his arms around him. Virgil froze momentarily, but relaxed as soon as the other boy curled into his chest and the darkly dressed teen immediately brought his arms up to hold him. Logan and Roman smiled, softly walking up to join them, Logan placing a hand on Virgil’s shoulder until Roman wrapped his arms around all of them and squeezed them into a group hug. Virgil expected to feel overwhelmed, three people he’d never met had him in an embrace… But somehow, he’d never felt safer. He’d never felt more like he belonged.


End file.
